


looking for love in all the wrong places

by yspir



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soulmate AU, bowie quinn voice: the universe!, dumb oblivious boys, thats all this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-07 02:27:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18863869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yspir/pseuds/yspir
Summary: “He had tried to 'accidentally' misplace the shoe later that day so his soulmate could have it back, but the universe didn’t work quite like that. He always found the shoe right where he left it, and he eventually just gave up and brought it back home. He put it in the wicker basket where he kept all of his soulmate’s things, tucked in the corner of his room by his desk.”A soulmate AU where everything you lose ends up in your soulmate's possession.Alternatively titled: a few times times Cyrus was a disaster gay and one time he was still a disaster gay, but differentlyOr: solemates.





	looking for love in all the wrong places

Cyrus wasn’t disorganized, per say. Just a little… absent minded. That’s what he was going to call it. His water bottle would slide out of his bag without him noticing until he got home, or he would get too caught up in some conversation to remember his pencil case on his desk. Never big things, just useful ones. He hoped his soulmate appreciated it, cause he’d lost a number of really nice pens.

Cyrus had gotten small hints to his soulmate’s personality, little things that showed up in his room or in his bag that _certainly_ didn’t belong to him. When he was younger, sometime in elementary school, he’d freaked out a little when he thought it was Buffy. He loved her, for sure, but he knew they weren’t meant to be together like _that_. He’d brought the running shoe to school in a panic, shoving it in Buffy’s face as soon as she got there. “You didn’t happen to lose this, did you? It was in my closet this morning and I _know_ it’s not mine.”

She wasn’t phased. “No, mine dont look like that. Besides,” she said, wrinkling her nose a little, “that looks like a boy’s shoe.”

So. An athletic boy probably. Cyrus could work with that. 

He had tried to “accidentally” misplace the shoe later that day so his soulmate could have it back, but the universe didn’t work quite like that. He always found the shoe right where he left it, and he eventually just gave up and brought it back home. He put it in the wicker basket where he kept all of his soulmate’s things, tucked in the corner of his room by his desk.

When Cyrus and Jonah had first met, it was really easy for Cyrus to get a little carried away. For as long as he knew that his soulmate was probably an athletic boy, he didn’t really have any guy friends. But Jonah was a boy, and he played ultimate, and he was really cute and nice and Cyrus would have really loved for Jonah to be his soulmate. 

Andi’s soulmate never lost anything that gave her particularly good clues as to who they might be. So it was a little unfair of Cyrus, but he never put a lot of stock into Andi’s crushes. It didn’t really mean anything that she liked Jonah. Not if Cyrus didn’t want it to.

Buffy was generally pretty tight lipped about her soulmate and whatever crushes she did or didn't have, which gave Cyrus’s imagination a lot of room to work. Cyrus would never tell her for fear of death, but when they first met TJ he thought for a second that he could have been her soulmate. He had told Andi this one day and she made him swear to keep that thought to himself. “She would have _both_ your heads on a spike. Besides,” she said, turning her nose up slightly, “Buffy deserves better than that jerk.” Cyrus agreed, mostly, but he hadn’t met TJ yet. Once he met TJ though, things were a little different. Cyrus couldn’t explain it. He just _knew_ there was something about TJ that everyone else was missing. He wanted to figure it out. 

Anyways, Buffy was less pressed about analyzing the clues and finding her soulmate at this age. She was always trying to be the voice of reason for Andi and Cyrus, reminding them that things would just happen when they were meant to. That was a completely reasonable and logical approach and it was also _way less fun_. Why would the universe even bother with all these clues if not to overanalyze them?

It wasn't even a particularly dramatic moment, in reality, when Cyrus learned for sure that he had been a little off base. Jonah had reached into his pocket for something, probably his phone, and came back out with a tube of chapstick instead. Chapstick that Cyrus had certainly never owned and therefore couldn’t have lost. “Soulmate,” Jonah laughed. “They lose stuff like this all the time.”

Cyrus laughed along politely but he felt a little crushed inside. It had been reckless to let himself think it could have been Jonah, really, and in the long run it was probably better to find out sooner rather than later. It still sucked.

He pretended to get a text from his mom so he could go home. “Bye Cy-guy!” Jonah said in his usual chipper way, completely unaware of what Cyrus was feeling.

“See ya.” He said back numbly and then went home to lie face down on his bed for the rest of the day. He called up Buffy, later, and admitted the whole situation to her despite his embarrassment. 

“It really felt like I was meant to meet him, you know? Now I just feel like I got way too attached to the idea of having him in my life.”

“Sometimes I think the universe gives us people we’re meant to keep who _aren’t_ our soulmates. Like you, me, and Andi. You guys are still friends, Cy. That doesn't have to change.”

“I know. I just thought…”

“I know.”

So. Cyrus was never letting himself do that again.

It wasn’t even that hard to not do it again, once he got over Jonah. He mostly hung out with the same people all the time and he probably would have noticed if it was one of them, he figured.

Instead, Cyrus chose to spend his time imagining the moment he and his soulmate finally found each other. In his head he was very suave and he could only hope that all of this practice being dramatic and romantic would pay off in reality. Maybe it was for the best he hadn't found his soulmate yet. He probably would have said something dumb.

Not to say that he completely stopped thinking about who it might be. Every time they were at one of TJ’s games Cyrus would look at all the boys on both teams and decide if he thought it could be any of them. He was _not_ ogling, despite what Buffy and Andi said.

(Ok, maybe just a little bit of ogling. All he's saying is if the universe wasn't there to pick an athletic boy for him he probably would've done it himself.)

In the end he was really there for TJ though, not his teammates. “Underdog!” TJ said happily as he bounded over after the game. He moved to give Cyrus a hug, but Cyrus was faster than that. 

“Uh, no thanks, sweaty basketball guy.”

TJ gave him an exaggerated pout. “But I played so well!”

“Which I will reward you for _after_ you’ve showered.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” TJ said, then noticed Buffy and Andi standing off to the side. “Buffy, Andi,” he gave them a bro nod, “thanks for coming.”

Once TJ had made his way back to the locker room and plans for a post-game meal at The Spoon had been settled, Buffy gave Cyrus a look. “Careful,” she said, and Cyrus genuinely had no idea what she was talking about. He said as much, and Buffy just raised her eyebrows and shook her head, getting ready to head out. “Nevermind. We’ll meet you guys there, yeah?”

Cyrus knew there was more to TJ than everyone initially thought, but it still surprised him sometimes when TJ would show off an unexpected new layer. A freshly showered TJ was at The Spoon talking animatedly about this book he’d been reading, and book nerd is not something Cyrus ever would have pegged TJ for. The author of the book he had been talking about sounded familiar, too, but Cyrus couldn't place them. He told TJ this and TJ just shrugged. “I mean, I’ve probably talked about them before. I love their work, so.”

It wasn’t until he got home that day that he realized where he knew the name from. Cyrus’s soulmate had lost a book by that author before! He thought, a little ridiculously, that he was glad TJ and his soulmate would have stuff in common so they could be friends. TJ had become pretty important to Cyrus, so it would suck if he had to play mediator like he used to have to do with TJ and Buffy. 

The next morning got off to an unfortunate start, which is how Cyrus should have known that the universe had shenanigans in store for him that day.

 _Rats_ he thought as he rummaged through his bag, realizing his snack had disappeared somehow. As usual, he hoped his soulmate was grateful. They should really thank him when they finally meet. Cyrus only lost stuff that could be useful to anyone. (Except that time he blessed them with a mud soaked shoe, but he liked to pretend that didn’t happen). His soulmate, on the other hand, managed to lose an entire basketball last week. How does one lose a basketball? What was Cyrus even supposed to do with a basketball? He shook his head and headed towards the vending machine to get a replacement snack before his next class.

“Hey,” TJ said, sliding into his usual seat next to Cyrus right before the bell rang. Cyrus smiled at him and then turned his attention towards their teacher. 

At the end of the period she explained their homework before dismissing the class. TJ gently kicked Cyrus’s shoes. “Want to work on that together after school?” 

Cyrus’s legs were not long enough to kick TJ back from where he was sitting. “Sure! My house?”

“Perfect! Later, Underdog.”

Cyrus knew that he and TJ were always the face of focus when they worked together so he anticipated incredible amounts of productivity from the two of them that afternoon.

...Okay, so maybe the homework had gotten slightly derailed. 

TJ was sitting on the floor sifting through the drawers in Cyrus’s desk while Cyrus was trying to make increasingly complicated paper airplanes to throw at TJ’s head. “Hey,” TJ said, apparently out of drawers, “What’s in here?” 

Cyrus looked up to see TJ peeking into the wicker basket. “That’s where I keep my soulmate’s stuff.” 

“Oh,” TJ sat back. “Sorry, I should have asked before I looked.”

“No, I don’t care. Go ahead.”

Cyrus focused back on his airplane. He gave it a test throw and it turned and went to the side of the room. He got up to get it from the floor.

“Hey, I used to have a pair of shoes just like this! One of them fell out of my bag though and and I could never find it…” TJ trailed off before looking up at Cyrus in stunned silence.

Cyrus turned to see TJ holding the shoe from his soulmate basket and froze. _TJ? It couldn’t be._ But then he thought about it. TJ was athletic. TJ was a boy. TJ was an athletic boy that Cyrus had an unexplainable bond with since the moment they met and suddenly it all made sense. He wanted to kick himself for being so caught up on Jonah when he met TJ that he had forgotten to overanalyze such an _obvious_ candidate.

TJ was sitting on the floor with the shoe still in hand, frozen in place. He was always cute but the doe eyed look of shock was really, _really_ cute.

Every coherent thought Cyrus had suddenly chose to vacate his head. “Uhhh,” he started and then paused, trying to think of something clever to say. TJ was his _soulmate_. They would remember this moment _forever_. “You're welcome,” is what his mouth settled on without consulting his brain. 

That was enough to shake TJ out of his stupor, his eyes lighting up as Cyrus could feel his face heating. He slowly put the shoe down next to him and leaned forward with delight. “I’m sorry, did you just say ‘You’re welcome?’”

“Um, no?” Cyrus said, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Cyrus couldn’t believe himself. All that practice and for what?

TJ was way too amused by the whole thing. He had a big, stupid grin on his face as he said, “I mean you’re great and all but that’s pretty confident to assume I would thank you for the honour of being your soulmate.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Cyrus tried to salvage his dignity even though it was long gone and he could tell TJ was just messing with him. “I just meant-- because I lost some pretty good--”

TJ shrugged, cutting him off. “I mean, I would though. I think I got pretty lucky.”

Cyrus warmed at that a little and let the reality of the situation sink in for the first time since he opened his stupid mouth. Soulmates. _Soulmates_. “TJ, thats… I did too. Hold on, I want to say something really sappy but I need a minute to think before I speak, apparently.”

“Just come here,” TJ said with a laugh and wrapped his arms around Cyrus after he sulked over. Cyrus rested a hand on TJ’s chest and looked up at him, suddenly shy.

“Hi,” TJ said softly.

“Hi,” he said back.

Cyrus forgot to indulge in all of his cliche love story fantasies like counting TJ’s freckles and looking for the flecks in TJ’s eyes as TJ leaned in. Instead, he let his eyes slip shut as TJ pressed a soft kiss to his lips. 

At school the next morning Cyrus was excitedly telling Andi and Buffy about how magical it all was when TJ himself came over and threw an arm around Cyrus, handing him a muffin. Cyrus looked up at him happily. _Forever_. The universe decided he gets to have this forever. Cyrus leaned into his side a little. “Thank you.”

TJ couldn't hold back his grin and Cyrus figured that he was having a similar moment. That is, until he looked Cyrus in the eyes with a wink and very deliberately said, “You're welcome.” Cyrus groaned and buried his head into TJ’s chest. Yup, he did this to himself. He did this to himself and now he was stuck with it _forever_. 

He was looking forward to it.

**Author's Note:**

> i stole the title from Growing Pains by COIN  
> this is kind of ridiculous but hopefully it was enjoyable ridiculous lol  
> I love feedback of any kind so leave a comment or kudos if you'd like! im the only proofeader so if you catch a typo or something feel free to point it out.  
> i also like to yell about tyrus on tumblr at tj-hearteyes-kippen if you want to come say hi and yell with me!  
> thanks for reading!


End file.
